


1.01) Reactivation

by Thatonesleepy



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Awakening, Black Armory, Destiny, Exo Guardian (Destiny) - Freeform, Ghost & Guardian-centric (Destiny), Lightbearer, Venus - Freeform, Vex (Destiny) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24780505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatonesleepy/pseuds/Thatonesleepy
Summary: A Ghost finds a mysterious Exo lying dead in an unknown facility on Venus, an Exo she soon learns is her Risen. Surrounded by Vex, they struggle with the pitfalls of resurrection as they try to escape.
Kudos: 4





	1.01) Reactivation

**Author's Note:**

> This is, obviously, an oc character. A few creative liberties were taken in crafting his story, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

“Hey… hey get up. We need to move… now!”

The Exo shifted sluggishly as a Ghost hovered nearby and whispered urgently to him. Her voice was a mix of a sultry deep and a slight rasp. She had a fairly simple shell, elongated points on the top and bottom of the face plate with four riveted light panels on the sides. She was a sleek black with a titanium undershell and light aqua tentacles which drifted in the wind. His eyes flickered a faint teal as he began to reactivate. He had a wiry thin frame with light armor grafted to his forearms, shins, chest, and fingers. His head had a vaguely aggressive, yet lightweight shape to it. His servos and synthetic muscle ached as he attempted to rise. His vision was blurry and his mouth felt dry, despite his inability to excrete saliva.

“The Vex are almost on top of us, I need you to at least try to crawl, okay? It's going to feel rough for a little bit, but you’ll get used to it. I promise, trust me.”

There she was again. Hearing her stirred something in his chest, heating around where his heart might be. He tried to focus on his surroundings. Everything was shapeless, but he could make out lights. He rolled over and tried to pull himself towards them. The voice came back, telling him to stop.

“No! Don’t go there. We’ll get blown to bits. You need to turn around. Follow my voice, I’ll get us out of here.”

He shimmied to the side. His vision was clearing slowly. The massive complex that he found himself at came into clarity. It looked as though it used to be around two stories tall and covered acres of land. However, the years it stood in disrepair had corroded it away. The concrete walls, replete with foliage, told a story of age and secrecy. Nobody cared that this place was abandoned. Nobody even knew it existed. He saw that the voice seemed to be emanating from a small drone a few inches from his head. It’s faceplates twisted slightly before it turned and started moving away. He didn’t want to be without it, he knew it was somehow important. So he crawled, despite the pain in his arms. The grass was long and there was a faint smell of sulfur around. The sky was an off-yellow and there was a strange mix of high technology and overgrown foliage all around them. Streams of green blue flowed through their hiding place. In the distance, lightning flashed through the sky with alarming frequency. A heavy mechanical movement could be heard close by, methodical and deliberate. It alarmed the Exo.

“How does your body feel? I’ve heard of other Ghosts having to wait days before their Risen can move fully. I hope we don’t have that problem, otherwise we won’t make it out of here. We’ve got constructs starting to recognize our presence.”

Her voice made him want to move faster, he wanted to get up and run for her. But he could barely move his legs and movement at all was exhausting. He wanted to try harder. He needed to try harder. She was counting on him and he was failing. He pushed up with his arms and tried to get his legs underneath himself to stand. It would attract the attention of the “Vex” as she called them, but he didn’t care. He wanted to impress this drone. 

“Hey there big guy, don’t push yourself. If you can’t get up, don’t worry about it. We wouldn’t want to attract their attention without an avenue of escape. I have a plan. You keep crawling until we reach an empty room or something and you can try to get up and recover before we try escaping, yeah? Maybe we’ll find some clothes for you too. Your’s seem to have rotted off.”

The Exo dropped and he kept crawling. He had suddenly become hyper aware of his nudity. It embarrassed him for some reason. They continued moving slowly. The constructs seemed to have lost interest in them by the time they reached a dark room. The drone lit a flashlight and the Exo pulled himself to a wall and propped himself against it. His legs slumped over and revealed the front of his naked body. 

I need to cover myself. 

“Hey I guess it’s true what they say about Exos. No different from Humans in the ah… biological… equipment… department… I-I’m going to try to find materials for clothes. You stay there and focus on getting up.”

Her voice cracked a little in amusement when she spoke to him. Then she flitted away in search of something to cover him with. He stared down at himself. 

What is going on? What am I? Where am I?

He tried to stand, placing his hand under him and pushing against the wall with the other. He managed to get up and wobble for a second before falling face first into the concrete. There was a loud clang as his metal body collided with the floor.

Ow. I need to balance better.

He tried again, this time just stumbling a bit. After a few tries at stepping forward and falling to a knee, he got the hang of walking. The drone returned and sounded excited.

“Hey! You’re up! You’re walking! We might just make it out of here!”

His chest stirred again, this time paired with a bit of dizziness. He didn’t know this feeling, but he liked it. He liked this drone. He showed off his walking abilities and tried to smile at her. She laughed a little. 

“Keep practicing, you’re still a little shaky. Oh! And I made you some clothes. They should fit, here.”

There was a shimmer in the air surrounding his body and he was covered in loose pants and a fitted shirt. He felt better to be covered. Having his body on display seemed wrong for some reason. The drone looked satisfied with him and floated off again. He walked a little more and tried moving faster. Eventually he got the hang enough to break into a light jog. The drone spoke again in an excited tone. 

“You’re doing wonderfully, we should get out of here and try to find a jumpship to get off planet. There isn’t really anywhere to go, but I would take orbit over being surrounded by hostile Vex. I’ve made some makeshift armor for you. It won’t do much, but it’ll keep you from getting taken down by light fire. We should still avoid any enemies though.”

He nodded as the armor materialized over the clothes. It was a small vest, bracers, and shin guards made of some metal plastic hybrid. He shrugged in it.

Feels good

Her face shifted in delight. He felt good about that. She flew to the door of their little hidey hole and he followed. They snuck around the campus, trying to find anything resembling a jumpship. He didn’t really know what he was looking for, but he knew she did. Every once in a while, she would swoop behind a wall or cabinet and the Exo would see one of the constructs walk by. He became more interested in what they were with every one they saw. When the sulfur sky darkened, they took a rest for the night, finding another dark room to wait in. 

“You’re an Exo, so you don’t technically need to sleep. I think we should stay awake for now, both of us. Traveling in the dark could get problematic, but we shouldn’t let our guard down. The Vex likely won’t stop patrolling the area.”

The Exo sat against a wall and thought for a bit. He tried to figure out some of the more confusing bits of what was going on. She kept calling him an Exo. He wondered what that meant. 

“Ec-cks-so…”

He spoke the word brokenly. The drone whipped around midair and looked shocked at him.

“You can speak! Try again, but try to keep a little quiet!”

“I… am… Ec-cks-so… w-what is… Ec-cks-so?”

When the drone spoke again, her voice was laced with excitement.

“An Exo is a synthetic life form somewhat similar to a Human! At one point you were human, but your mind was transferred into the body you have now! I didn’t know if you would be able to speak! I guess a lot of Exo Risen have their voice modulators broken on resurrection. Supposedly it’s a more complicated piece of machinery and prone to restructure failure after the years of degradation. But your’s seems to be working fine!”

“Res… surrection… death… was I… dead? Where… are we?”

“Yes! You were dead, but I’m not sure how long. We are on a planet called Venus! It used to be a haven for humanity, but something happened when the Collapse hit and it turned into the overgrown mess you see around us today.”

“Colllll…”

The word stuck in his mouth as the sound looped. He tried to finish the word, but something was keeping him from completing it.

“Maybe take a break. This will be similar to walking. Small chunks of practice, yeah?”

The drone didn’t lose her enthusiasm with the suggestion. He had pleased her. This made him happy. 

——————————————

A storm rolled in. Rain fell through the fissures in the ceiling. While they waited, the Exo and his Ghost could hear the mechanical stomps of the Vex outside their hiding place. While their eyes faintly lit the room, the would-be assailants didn’t seem to notice anything different on their patrols. The Ghost occasionally floated off to somewhere. She was never gone long, but the Exo didn’t like being alone. When the Ghost began to see light peeking through the yellow clouds, she spoke to the Exo once more.

“Alright. It looks like the storm has passed. We should get moving, see what we can find.”

The Exo nodded and stood. She shifted, as if wondering something, before spinning about and flitting to the doorway. She quickly checked for any constructs and told him to follow her. They made slow progress around the perimeter of the building before finding an access hatch that seemed to lead inside. The Ghost unlocked the hatch and the Exo swung it open. It was pitch dark inside. The Ghost sighed. If it was dark in the access hatch, there likely wouldn’t be any lighting in the entire compound unless there was a window nearby or holes in the ceiling.

“We’re going to have to be especially careful, okay? I’ll turn my flashlight on, but only for chunks of time so we have as small a chance of attracting attention as possible. Unfortunately that means we won’t be able to see very well for most of the way. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes… what… we look for?”

“Anything resembling a ship and a weapon for you. If we do get caught, we don’t want to be unarmed. I think I should be able to resurrect you again here, but we shouldn’t test it if we can avoid it. Let’s get moving.”

She started down, lighting the path, with the Exo in tow. The corridors were slim and with frequent turns into the unknown abyss. The Exo began to worry. 

What if we can’t get out? 

His wondering was answered shortly after with a faint light. As they moved closer, keeping a slow pace, they saw that the light came from another hatch that led to a reception area. They stopped in front of the hatch. The Ghost shifted, twisting and crumpling her face in thought. The Exo stood still and waited for a command. Before he could be given one, they heard the soft echo of metallic footfalls behind them. The Ghost stopped thinking and unlocked the hatch so the Exo could throw it open. They clambered out and to the side just in time for the large Vex to reach their hallway and look down to where they had just been. It seemed satisfied there was nothing of note nearby and continued it’s patrol. 

“That… was close… yeah?”

The Ghost chuckled lightly.

“Yeah, that was close. But we’re in a good spot. There should be a directory and map somewhere around here. We should be able to find our way to a hangar and armory, if they had one here.”

The Exo had hoped she would notice his usage of the word “yeah” in the same way she used it. He couldn’t tell if the laugh she had was acknowledgment of it or of their situation. Either way, they were on the move again. The room was rather large. There was a desk on one end, opposite what appeared to be front doors. A ceiling that might’ve once held glass lit the room as if they were outside, and the floor was a mix of cracked and discolored concrete and overgrowth threatening to crack more flooring. The Ghost moved over to the desk and tried accessing logs. It was unfortunately locked, but the security only took a few moments to bypass. She began figuring out the area, searching for something useful. She found three things of note. There was a hangar, they did have an armory, but there was also a room labeled “Experimental Chambers and Living Quarters.” Ordinarily each would be mildly unremarkable on their own, but together? She thought they would want to check it out. After downloading the relevant information to herself, she spoke to the Exo.

“Okay, so I have a few places we can go. We’ll hit the Hangar last, ideally there will be something we can use to leave this planet in there. Otherwise it should at least have some ground transportation we could use. There is also an Armory we’ll visit to arm you, maybe even armor you better than you are now. I also found an interesting room I want us to check out. I found you just outside this building and I’m thinking you may have had something to do here. We might be able to glean something about you, maybe even your name. Let’s get going.”

She led the way through the winding hallways to the Armory. It was locked. The Ghost let out a frustrated sigh. It wouldn’t take long to get through the lock, but it was tedious. She wondered why everything was so tightly secured here. She didn’t recognize the symbol that was on the doors. An archway, flanked by a hand and butterfly with some weird hook underneath. She hadn’t heard or seen anything similar. Maybe they’ll find answers around here. Maybe she should have paid more attention to things other than maps at that console. It didn’t matter, however, as she had bypassed the locking mechanism. The door let out a hiss as they separated and revealed a room lined with weaponry. They strode in, looking at what they had found. 

“Grab something. I don’t suppose it matters what, just whatever looks best to you. I would suggest light weaponry so if we need to run, you aren’t slowed down.”

Her tone was a little distant as she examined the walls. The weapons looked superb. Much better than anything she had seen any Risen carrying. They might give them an edge if ever another Risen challenged her’s. She made a point to scan every unique weapon she saw. Meanwhile, the Exo had chosen what appeared to be a pulse rifle, a shotgun, and a sword. She made sure to scan a scout rifle, sniper rifle, hand cannon, rocket launcher, and large machine gun. Those would at least allow her to create basic weapon frames should he need something in a different weapon class. On the wall she also counted a bow, an assault rifle, and a sidearm. She had him grab a sidearm as a precaution, but left the other two. A bow would be too slow and they’re inferior to snipers and scouts, and an assault rifle would fall short of the pulse rifle’s superior range and adequate rate of fire. She briefly considered having him put the shotgun back, but figured it would be a good replacement, should the sword prove to be dull. When the Exo finished clipping the sidearm to himself and had the other weapons harnessed in, they began to move again.

“Onto the mystery room now. I grabbed schematics of the other weapons and should be able to make you something workable should any of your current weapons fail. Keep an eye out for any hostiles. I don’t know how good your aim will be for now, just try to hit your mark, okay? If all else fails, it’s good you grabbed a sword and shotgun. Those’ll work if your aim is truly terrible.”

They weaved through the hallways once more before reaching a hallway with a glass wall. It showed a large operating room with a single chair in the center. Some kind of apparatus hung above it with various tools attached to mechanical tentacles slumped onto the back of the chair. Computers and shelves lined the room. A sole door could be found on the opposite end of the room. They walked down the hall and were met with another locked door next to the end of the glass. The Ghost unlocked it in annoyance and they went through, met with what looked like a cleansing room. After going through two more locked hallways they entered a lobby with two doors. One was labeled “Extraction Room” the other “Living Quarters.” The Ghost floated to each door and unlocked them. The amount of security here was beginning to pique her interest more than outright aggravate her. 

“Let’s check out these Living Quarters first. There might be something useful in here.”

The room was mostly empty. There was a cot and closet doors. The room had a light embedded in the ceiling, but nothing else. The Exo went over to the closet and found some clothes within. He already had clothes though, so he ignored them. He sat on the cot. It felt strange to him. Familiar somehow. He laid down on it and stared at the ceiling while the Ghost moved out of the room, leaving him in complete darkness. Something about all this felt familiar. The reception area, the armory, even the hallways held some familiarity to them. He wondered what it meant. He couldn’t remember anything solid from before he woke up to her voice, but those places felt like they were important for some reason. The Ghost interrupted his thoughts, shouting for him. She sounded conflicted.

“Hey, uh, you might want to come here. I think I found something really useful!”

The Exo got up and followed the faint light out of the room and into the next. She hovered near one of the shelves. He stood next to her, reading the cartridges.

“B-Bardyl… one… w-hat is… Bardyl one?”

“I think it’s you big guy. Here, I have an idea. Follow me, we’re going to look for a recent tape.”

She flew around the room, reading each cartridge until one satisfied her. She beckoned the Exo over and had him grab one labeled “Bardyl-1 Master Memory” along its spine. There was a similar label on the face of the cartridge reading “Critical memory drive, only use in the event of necessary full reboot.” 

“Bingo. Bring it over to the console here and pop a squat in the chair there. We’re going to perform a little experiment.”

He did as she said. She hovered over a large console, doing what she could to route more of the auxiliary power to the room they were in. If her hunch was right, she might end up being an incredibly lucky Ghost. She managed to get enough power to activate the device above the chair. It clamped onto the Exo’s head and inserted into several nodes. It began to hum and light up in a stark aquamarine. The Exo seemed to stiffen and grunt in pain. His vital signs showed up on the console screen. Despite his reaction, nothing seemed amiss. His brainwaves and heart rate were well within normal limits. She thought about how strange it was that, while wholly synthetic, Exo’s still had vital readings similar to non synthetic life forms. Her pondering stopped when the machine slowed down its hum and disconnected from the Exo’s head. He slumped over for a moment before whipping upright and searching the room. His eyes were no longer the dull teal it was when she resurrected him, now taking on a striking turquoise. He swung the pulse rifle around and prowled the room, slightly crouched and alert. She flashed her light a few times in an attempt to show her presence in case he had forgotten about her. His barrel whipped around and he spoke loudly and clearly. His voice was resonant with a slight electric distortion.

“Identify yourself.”

“I’m your Ghost! I found you outside and resurrected you, remember?”

The voice sounded alarmed, but he felt oddly attracted to it. His chest heated up. 

“Come out from behind there. Slowly. I will open fire if you try anything.”

A small drone floated out from behind the console. He approached it, not letting the barrel down until he was within a few feet. 

“Tell me what happened here. This is my home. Why aren’t there any lights on? Where are the scientists? What do you mean resurrected?”

“I’m not sure what happened, honestly. I can’t even say I’m sure what this place is. I don’t recognize the symbols on the doors and I don’t recognize the designation codes for your weaponry. I can tell you that the lights are out because this facility has been abandoned and the scientists are likely dead. Vex hold this area, they don’t let survivors stay that way for long. You were one of the dead before I found you. I am your Ghost, you are my Risen. We are a team, and as long as I am alive, you are effectively immortal. Can I assume you are Bardyl-1?”

The Exo nodded and pondered for a moment. He decided they needed to leave the compound. These Vex sound like they would be trouble and he didn’t have enough ammo to last a long time. He turned around and tapped on his temple. The dark room gained a green hue as his night vision kicked in. 

“If I was dead, I suppose I'm no longer Bardyl-1. Make that a 2. Follow me, we’re going to the hangar. There should be transportation in there, ground or otherwise.”

He left the room slightly hunched in a battle stance, and heard a slight whine as the Ghost followed him. She was surprised at how capable he seemed now. She liked it much more than having to wait for his systems to get back in order. Whatever that machine was, it seemed to kickstart his recovery as well as his memory. She did end up being an incredibly lucky Ghost. If she was being honest with herself, though, she enjoyed that he seemed to have a crush on her before now.

“We can run through my memories when we get to something that can take us to orbit. Before we get off planet though, we will need to destroy this facility. If I am the last surviving member of the staff, it's my duty to ensure nothing here falls into anyone else’s hands. I don’t know how we’re going to achieve that just yet though. I’m open to suggestions.”

He was moving quickly, almost running but apparently ready for a firefight should one break out. He also seemed to have little regard for what enemies might be lurking in the corridors. This told the Ghost that he was confident in his combat abilities. Soon enough, they had reached a door labeled “Hangar.” Like every other door beforehand, it was locked. This time, however, Bardyl typed in a code on the pad next to the door followed by a heavy clunk and the door sliding open. Inside was a large room with emergency lights lining the floor. They illuminated the room just enough for the vehicles to be recognizable. Bardyl touched his temple again and his night vision ceased. They would need something capable of space travel. Barring that, at least flight capable. He stalked up and down the aisle, towing the Ghost all the while. He stopped in front of a large ship.

“Perfect. We’re taking this one. It should be capable of breaking into orbit and it has light armaments. It’ll be enough to destroy the compound. If I remember correctly, this ship was designed with the experiments I underwent in mind.”

The Ghost shifted her face. A sign of confusion that Bardyl picked up on.

“It has the same machine on board that you used to bring my memory back. Albeit a smaller, newer version.”

He moved under the hull and typed a code into an unseen touchpad. A boarding dock outline hissed with gas and lowered. They quickly boarded and Bardyl moved to the pilot chair to punch in the codes to open the hangar door. He lifted off and swung around to leave when he saw what he assumed were Vex waiting for them outside. Ordinarily he would leave them, he was sure the jumpship could handle light fire, but he didn’t know what these constructs were armed with and they had two large structures with them. They were rooted in place, a large, shielded, eye like orb in the center with wing structures flanking said eye. He landed again and rushed out to try and take the large turret like constructs down before they could fire. 

He rolled down the last bit of the ramp and whipped his pulse rifle to bear. He plugged four shots into the center of the left machine. It recoiled and recentered onto him. He kept firing. Eventually it looked upwards and started shooting off energy balls in random directions. He shifted his focus to the other one just in time to see it fire at him. He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the mass of purple energy. He landed on a knee and fired at the turret until it did the same as its twin. He traded between them until they exploded, their central eye rolling off their embankments. He saw four floating constructs start towards him. They would resemble metal flowers, if not for the tentacles flowing behind them. They seemed vaguely similar to the Ghost.

“Ghost! Start the ship and begin lift off. I need you to fly that bird out of here and open fire on the facility! I’ll meet you outside, don’t worry about catching me in the fire, I’ll be gone by the time this place blows! And leave the boarding ramp down!”

Bardyl shouted commands at the drone, and while she didn’t like to be ordered around, she deferred to his combat prowess and obeyed. The jumpship lifted and flew out of the hangar. Bardyl gunned one of the floating machines down before its comrades reached him. He dropped the pulse rifle and swung the shotgun at one, pulling the trigger almost immediately. 

Two down

The last two opened fire. He saw purple lines blaze a swath around him. He ducked just in time to see a metal crate sheared in half. He rolled behind cover and surveyed the area for any ground transport. His eyes fell on a Sparrow nearby. A sleek black model with red accents. One of the constructs floated behind his cover. Bardyl lunged and took one more flower machine out with a punch before making a break for the Sparrow. His fist was sheathed in some sort of electricity. When he nearly reached it he saw purple blaze past him and he felt his arm disconnect. He clenched his jaw, trying to ignore the pain, and swung his body onto the transport. With his remaining arm he hefted the shotgun up and held the trigger drown, firing two shots. Enough pellets connected to take the final construct out. He needed to get out of the hangar. He gunned the acceleration handle and sped out. Just as he reached the threshold he heard explosions behind him. She was doing as he asked. He zipped past several other machines. These were anthropomorphic, some taller with a slight purple shimmer around them. Others had fan-like crests on their heads. None of them opened fire on him, seemingly more interested in the destruction of the compound. Bardyl used this to his advantage, quickly finding where the Ghost had leveled the jumpship. He found a rock to use as a jumping ramp and gunned the acceleration, hoping his aim would be good enough. 

He crashed into the cargo bay of the jumpship and punched the button to shut the ramp. He got up and walked to the pilot area to have the Ghost finish up and fly them off planet. She looked at him in shock.

“What happened to your arm?!”

“One of those machines sheared it off. It looked like a flower with tentacles. Had a gun that shot a solid beam. Chopped a solid crate in half and nearly me too. I’d count this as lucky.”

“Harpies. Gotta be careful of them in groups.”

“Seems so. Can you fix this? You said I’m effectively immortal, but being immoral with only one arm would suck.”

“Yes. But you need to die first.”

“Die. And how would I do that if I’m immortal? On that point, how can I trust you? You have tentacles like those Harpies. I don’t even know your name.”

“You… just need to trust me. And I don’t have a name. You give me that.”

Bardyl hesitated for a moment. He didn’t see any other option and pulled his sidearm from it’s holster to plug a shot in his head. 

I hope she’s right

A moment later his eyes and lit a sharp turquoise as he groaned. His arm was back. The Ghost seemed to be smiling at him, despite having no mouth. 

“A… name, huh? Those things were called Harpies? How’s Harpalyte? Sounds sort of like the kinda name a Greek goddess would have, and seeing as you’ve given me the gift of everlasting life, I’d say you deserve a name of such caliber.”

“I like it. Bardyl-2 and Harpalyte.” 

Her chassis spun and flexed outwards. She seemed excited. Bardyl kept the conversation going.

“So. Where to now? And anything I can do besides not die?”

“We can go anywhere, really. This jumpship is a good one, which means we won’t need to land anywhere for a little bit at least. But yes. There is so very much you can do now. We’ll have to do a test run of your new powers when we land wherever we’re going.”

“Hm… Alright… We’re going to go to Earth and Nessus. There are things I need to check out.”


End file.
